Maybe the Model Has a Tub

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CreditCreditLeft, Tony Cenicola/The New York Times; Trevor Tondro for The New York Times

By Julie Lasky

May 22, 2013

In June 2010, this section wrote about a Victorian-style cottage in the Catskills that served as a retreat and a creative canvas for its owner, Sandra Foster. The tiny pink-and-white house lacked heat and running water but was dripping with charm. And when Caroline Dupuis, a dollhouse builder in McKinney, Tex., was sent a link to the article by a friend, she was moved to recreate the cottage in miniature.

The Shabby Chic Dollhouse, as Ms. Dupuis markets it through her business, Cinderella Moments, reproduces the look of the original brick foundation, green tin roof tiles (simulated with hot glue and paint) and interior loft bed with ladder. A facsimile of the crystal chandelier that hung in Ms. Foster’s retreat is suspended from the peaked ceiling and lights up with a switch.

Ms. Dupuis secured Ms. Foster’s permission to copy the house, and said she had sold about 10 in the nearly three years she has been building the made-to-order models. Customers who balk at the $599 price can buy plans from her to construct their own ($16.99 for the PDF).

As for Ms. Foster, she said she has long since exchanged the frilly décor (“too saccharine”) for a decorating scheme that involves peeling wood chairs and Edison bulbs hanging from wires. But she still needs a septic system.

“You know that small-house stuff,” she said, alluding to popular dreams of Swedish summer refuges and blogs with names like Cottageporn. “That’s a lot of baloney. If you don’t have a shower, forget it.”